Fin whale songs shed light on their presence in NZ

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-07-15 04:00

New Zealand

PHOTO: Wikimedia/Nilfanion

Researchers have homed in on the unique “doublet” calls of fin whales to learn more about where and when they might pass by New Zealand, saying they appear to occur in this country more than previously recognised. Fin whale songs were picked up on the eastern side of the Cook Strait and Gisborne during the wintertime, but the amount of calls varied from season to season. They say their findings suggest that some fin whales wintering in New Zealand may be part of a larger "acoustic population" that extends as far west as southern Australia and as far south as Antarctica.

News release

From:

Journal/
conference: PLOS One

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Whale Acoustics, USA; NOAA, USA

Funder: This work was financially supported by OMV New Zealand Ltd, Chevron New Zealand Holdings LLC, and Marlborough District Council. Giacomo Giorli and Kimberly T. Goetz received cofunding by NIWA Coasts and Oceans Programme 4. ’Whale acoustics inc’ provided support in the form of salaries for author Mark A. McDonald, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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